Page 80 of The Ice Queen in the Corner Office

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Alex

The ride back to my place was quiet. Lee was in the back, Willow in his arms, still out cold. Bert was driving, and I was in the passenger seat, my cast taking up too much room to sit in the back. Jill was back there, half of Willow on her lap, Lee on one side of her, Fin on the other.

Somehow, I’d thought Jill would forgive me for walking out when she found out why I’d done it, but there was still too much distance in her eyes, too much wariness. She’d be smart to maintain that distance, to avoid entanglements with me while I had multiple people after my blood.

I kept glancing in the back to be sure Willow was still there, that this was real and she was alive, safe. Now, we just had to keep her and the rest of us that way.

When we got back to the city, Willow was still out.

“Where do you want me to take you?” Bert asked.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t considered the possibilities, it’s just that I hadn’t come up with a perfect answer. “The Owings Palm on fifth street,” I said.

We’d discussed taking Willow to a hospital, but her breathing was even and she’d stirred a few times. She didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger and doctors would ask questions that might endanger us all. What I really wanted was to go back to that house in suburbia, a house nicer than the one hard-working people like Willow and my father could afford, and make those assholes hurt more for what they’d done to Jill and to Willow.

Jill leaned forward between the seats. “You can bring her to my place,” she said.

“They’ve seen your face,” I said, my words a harsh snap in the hushed car. I wasn’t mad at her, not really. I was mad at the situation, mad that she was in danger. “Your place isn’t any safer than mine.”

“They’ve seen my face, but they don’t know who I am or where I live.”

“All they’d have to do is go to the Owings Leisure website.” I wanted to punch something. “Your picture is all over it, along with your name. How long do you think it would take them to find your address after that?”

“Oh,” she said, but she didn’t sit back, she stayed in my space, her scent making me want to pull her into my lap and never let go.

Damn, I missed her.

It had only been four days, but I’d missed her so bad it hurt. I’d missed her smile and the way she never hesitated to call me on my shit, but most of all I missed the way she looked at me sometimes, with soft fondness in her eyes, those moments when I believed she might actually care for me, just as I was. Not because of the money or the power I was purported to have, but because of the person I was.

“Let’s go to Mom’s. They won’t go all the way to Virginia to find us, will they?”

“Virginia?” Bert said. “That’s a long fucking way from home, lady.”

I ignored him, wondering if he was acting more street than he really was just to get on my nerves and get me back for not mentioning him to Jill. “I won’t put your family in danger,” I said.

“I doubt they’ll be in danger,” she said. “Those thugs might be able to find me, but they’d have to somehow find my mother’s name and figure out she’s running an inn in Virginia and drive all the way up there on the off chance we might be there. It’s a lot more likely they’d check your hotels.”

“She makes a good point,” Fin said, piping up from the back. “I vote to put Jill in charge.”

I rolled my head on my neck and closed my eyes. Maybe if I wished really hard, I’d wake up and find out this had all been a bad dream. “I’m in charge,” I said. “Willow’s my sister and this is my problem.”

“No offense,” Lee said. “But you’ve only got one good leg and one good eye. I’m with Fin on this one.”

“Three makes it a party,” Bert said. He glanced at Jill in the rear-view mirror. “Where to, sweetheart?”

I closed my eyes again as she gave soft instructions to Bert, my head lolling against the head rest, exhaustion overtaking me and pulling me down.

I awoke to a scream. My eyes popped open to see the car swerving back into our lane. “What the hell, Bert?” I asked. “You trying to kill us?”

“She surprised me,” he said.

“Alex?” Willow’s voice was raspy, but strong. I twisted in my seat to face her. Laid across Lee and Jill’s laps, she couldn’t sit up, but she lifted her head to look at me. “You saved me.”

“We saved you,” I said. “You know the guys. The woman you’re lying on is Jill.”

Willow rolled her head and looked at Jill. “Hi, Jill. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Always sweet and polite even in the worst kind of situation.

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